March to Winterfell
by ariel2me
Summary: A collection of ficlet revolving around Stannis Baratheon, Asha Greyjoy and Justin Massey
1. Chapter 1: Peaches

Justin Massey wiped away the peach juice running down his chin with the palm of his hand. The same hand he then used to push back the hair that had fallen down over one eye. Asha watched, amused and repulsed at the same time.

She had kissed away the juice running down Qarl's chin, that first time he ever ate a peach. That first time she had him in her bed. But Massey was not her Qarl, and she was no longer Balon's heir, but a prisoner.

His prisoner. The man calling himself a king who was not watching anything except the flame. Looking for his red god? Or his red priestess whose absence Justin Massey had often lamented? Careful, Justin, Asha thought, your king might suspect you lack faith in his own ability.

But the king was watching. Watching from the corner of his eyes. Watching his prisoner watching the knight with designs on her and her lands. Watching Massey devouring the peach. Messy, he thought. So very messy. Renly had wiped the peach juice from his chin with his hand too. The back of his hand, instead of the palm.

"Are you certain you would not like one, Your Grace? This is the last of them, the peaches and the fruits," Justin Massey spoke.

"A man should never refuse to taste a peach," Renly had said, at the parley. "He may never get the chance again. Life is short, Stannis. Remember what the Starks say. Winter is coming."

Winter had arrived, and life did turn out to be short for his little brother. He refused to think of that. But the sight of Justin Massey holding out a peach to him reminded him so much of Renly doing the same.

"No!" The word came out loud and harsh, amidst gritted teeth and clenched jaw. Justin Massey was unperturbed. He smiled and offered the peach to Asha Greyjoy instead. "What about you, my lady?"

She is wed. She is Ironborn. She will not fall for your frivolous smiles and your silly japes, Stannis scoffed.

But to his surprise, she accepted the peach from Massey. Accepted it with a smile. "Why, thank you, ser."

"Justin, I insist."

Like a lovesick puppy, Asha thought. But not lovesick like Tris. Not lovesick for her, but lovesick for titles and for her lands, and the prospect of ruling the Iron Islands through her. He was bound to be disappointed.

My mummer's farce of a husband will never allow it. My nuncle will never allow it.

I will never allow it.

But Massey was one of the very few who treated her well, and Asha was not about to jeopardize that, in the name of pride. She took a bite, and spotted the king watching her. She wondered what was on his mind.


	2. Chapter 2: Hawking

"Summer, that was her name," Justin Massey announced with a broad smile to Asha. "A goshawk, my lady. One of the best in the kingdom, if I may say so myself."

Asha Greyjoy raised her eyebrows. "Summer? How lovely," she said, but Stannis could hear the mockery underneath. How very like these soft and weak southern lords and knights, she must be thinking, to name a hawk Summer. "Was she good for hawking in winter too, or would she only do it when it's summer?" Asha was asking Justin.

Justin laughed so hard, spittle and bits of food dribbled down his chin. You fool, Stannis scoffed silently, she's making fun of you. Justin's attempt to woo their prisoner was becoming more and more pathetic and transparent by the day.

"She was not named after the season," Justin said, when he had finally stopped laughing.

"No? Let me guess, she was named after a woman," Asha said, with a sardonic smile on her face. "The first woman you bedded, perhaps?"

Justin's face turned red, redder than the fire burning day and night in their encampment. "It is not kind to tease me, my lady," he said, but his tone was playful rather than cross. "She was named after a dear relative," he continued solemnly.

A relative? Stannis found it completely unbelievable. Asha's guess was probably closer to the mark. Why else would Justin have blushed? Certainly not because of the reference to a woman he bedded. Justin Massey had probably bedded as many women as Robert had, Stannis expected. Serving as Robert's squire seemed to have that unfortunate effect on many men.

"Forgive me, ser," Asha said, sounding almost contrite. Almost.

Justin waved off the apology with a smile, and continued extolling the virtues of his goshawk. "Summer would soar and soar, higher than the treetops."

Proudwing never soared, not once. She would flutter from room to room, following Stannis everywhere he went inside the castle. A constant companion who incredibly never seemed to tire of his company.

"And she never missed her strike. Never," Justin continued with great emphasis.

Just like Thunderclap, Robert's pride and joy, who had never missed her strike either. Weakwing, Robert had called Stannis' bird. Stannis had bristled at that insulting and mocking name. And yet …

Her right wing was injured, when I found her. It took a long time for it to heal. Stannis had hounded Maester Cressen daily, asking if there was nothing else to be done. "You must have patience," Cressen had said. "If you wish to keep her, you must nurse her patiently and carefully."

Justin Massey was still going on and on at great length about the exploits of his goshawk. Stannis' patience was wearing thin. "Some of us would like to eat in peace rather than being hounded with your stories, Massey," Stannis snapped, even though he himself had eaten not a bite of the onion soup cooling in front on him.

The smile never left Justin's face. "Forgive me, Your Grace. I thought it is a story that might cheer Lady Asha, during our long and cold march."

"A prisoner does not need cheering up," Stannis barked.

"And where is Summer now, Ser Justin?" Asha asked, staring defiantly at Stannis. He cursed her and Justin Massey both.

Justin's face suddenly took on a very different countenance, something Stannis had rarely seen on the face of the knight he had scornfully called The Smiler. Justin was looking glum and very gloomy. "She just disappeared one day. She soared above the treetops, high up to the sky … and never came back. I couldn't understand it. I loved her, and I treated her well. I still don't know why she didn't come home."

Asha was saying some words of commiserations and sympathies to Justin, but Stannis barely heard them. He was back at Storm's End on the day Proudwing flew away, never to return. Unlike Justin Massey, however, Stannis knew exactly why his goshawk never came home.


	3. Chapter 3: Connections

**Connections**

"Your Grace?" Justin Massey's voice interrupted Stannis' contemplation of his long-gone goshawk.

"What?" Stannis barked out impatiently.

"I was requesting permission to be excused, Your Grace. To escort LadyAsha back to her tent," Justin Massey replied, smiling his persistent smile that irritated Stannis greatly.

_Escort._ As if she was an honored guest instead of a prisoner. Massey's way of currying favor with the supposed heir of the Iron Islands, no doubt. Massey would do anything for land and a lordship, Stannis knew.

And yet, the disquieting thought struck Stannis suddenly, Asha Greyjoy had accepted the peach from Justin Massey with a smile. Had listened to Justin's tedious ramblings about his goshawk with pretend interest and was playing her own game too.

_Now who is manipulating whom, Justin?_

In a battle of wills and trickery between those two, Stannis had no doubt who would be the victor. The thought enraged him. She had no right. A prisoner, trying to play games with her captors. To what end? Merely to ensure a better treatment, or was she planning something more devious?

"Leave us, ser. I would like a word with the prisoner," Stannis announced. For once, Justin Massey was struck dumb. The smile left his mouth; instead it was left hanging open in amazement.

"What are you waiting for? Leave. Now."

"At once, Your Grace," Justin Massey replied, but his gaze lingered on Ashaas he made his way out of the dining tent. If Stannis did not know any better, he would have said that Massey looked almost concerned for Asha Greyjoy.

Asha's gaze did not linger on the smiling knight who was no longer smiling. Instead, her eyes were fixed on Stannis. She was scrutinizing him in a way that he found most improper. Improper for any woman, let alone one who was his prisoner.

"Has Ser Justin upset you in any way, Your Grace?" Asha spoke beforeStannis did. Another black mark against her. Stannis took mental notes of that.

"What games are you playing, my lady?" Stannis asked brusquely.

Asha raised her eyebrows. "Games, Your Grace?" She sounded genuinely puzzled.

"With Ser Justin. Do you think you can entice him into releasing you? It is futile, my lady. Ser Justin cares not for you, only for your land and title, and he cannot have that if you are a free woman," Stannis replied.

_And Alysane Mormont is a more reliable and dependable guard_, Stannisthought. Not for any love or deep loyalty for Stannis or his cause, but due to the long-standing enmity between the Mormonts and the Greyjoys.

"I am well-aware of Ser Justin's … reasons," Asha said calmly. "Still, he is the only one who might object if your men try to burn me for your hungry red god. I owe him my regard if only for that. Would you have me treat him with disdain, Your Grace?"

Her candor stupefied Stannis. He had expected her to prevaricate, dissemble, to feign naivety or innocence. His mind quickly reassessed the woman sitting in front of him.

_She is proud, this one_. _She might have bended the knee, but not because she is afraid of death, only so she could live to fight another day._

Fighting another day for Asha Greyjoy no doubt meant burying an axe inStannis's skull. In Justin's skull as well?

"If Ser Justin objects to your burning, it is not for the reason that you might think." Why was he repeating the same point he had made earlier? Her refusal to cease staring at him was very, very unsettling.

Asha laughed, a short, harsh bark that was unlike the sound of any woman laughing Stannis had ever heard. "Why, Your Grace, I would never have taken you for someone with … _romantic notions_," she said.

_Romantic notions?_ The woman was deliberately testing his patience.

Again, she spoke before Stannis did. "I am not a foolish, naïve girl, Your Grace. Ser Justin does not love me, nor does he lust for me. I am well-aware of that. He wants to rule the Iron Islands in my name, that is the only reason why he would want to ensure that I live."

_Love? Definitely not. Lust, on the other hand …_

Justin Massey had not been Robert's squire for nothing.

"And what of you, my lady? You will take Ser Justin's goodwill and his favors, without any intention of accepting him," Stannis pointed out.

"I am already wed, Your Grace."

"To an old man you had no wish to wed, I hear. Your nuncle forced you into that marriage."

"And will you force me into a marriage with Ser Justin, to bring the Iron Islands to heel?" Asha's gaze was a dare, a challenge.

"You are my prisoner! It is not your place to question me," Stannis spat out the words through gritted teeth. "Ser Richard, take the prisoner back to her tent."

Richard Horpe came quickly, looking grim-faced and dour. He was definitely not a smiler. The complete opposite of Justin Massey in many ways.

_Davos could smile and laugh when the situation warrants it, and be completely grave and somber at other times._

Stannis pushed the painful thought of his dead Hand aside. Horpe and Massey were the ones he had left with him; he would have to make the best of the situation.


End file.
